Beartown by Frederik Backman

Title: Beartown

Author: Frederik Backman

Series: Beartown #1

Release Date: September 15, 2016

Length: 432 pages

Genre: General Fiction

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***My Review***

You occasionally come upon a book that surprises you and ends up being far more profound than you ever expected. That kind of literature is exactly what Beartown is.

The book depicts a little Swedish village in a forest, in the middle of nowhere. However, hockey breathes new life into the community, illuminates the area, and provides its citizens with joy, inspiration, and reasons to live.

Everything in the little hamlet of Beartown indeed revolves around hockey. Since there are few industries or professional options, hockey is what captures the attention of young people. Peter, who moved back to Beartown from Canada and had a successful career of his own, is the general manager of the hockey team.

Maya and Leo, as well as his wife Kira, support their decision to make hockey the focal point of their life. The junior team’s star, Kevin, is short to be avidly sought after beyond the neighborhood. Everything is flawless. Or perhaps it’s not?

They forget their differences, the issues they face, and the unpleasant situations they frequently cope with thanks to the game. They’re simply enjoying the rhythm of the game and escaping from everything by going to the safe and joyful places they’ve imagined for themselves.

What happens, though, if someone wants to take away the one thing they fervently love?

The top player on the hockey team, Kevin, is detained by the police just before a crucial game. Maya, the sports director of the club, decides to come up at that very moment on the incident that had a place at Kevin’s party.

And this is when the story starts. Everyone accuses Maya and questions why the victim chose to speak at that precise moment. There is a myriad of inquiries from all angles, but the most important one is: “Who is at fault?”

Beartown initially got off to a poor start for me. It was initially challenging to keep everyone straight with so many characters. But it slowly snuck up on me. Before I knew it, the lives of these folks and the dynamics of little towns had fully absorbed me.

This book has so many interesting aspects. Morality and loyalty issues, irrational emotions, and right and wrong are some of them. There is no clear path through the plot or evident resolution.

Beartown is all about hardship in life. The struggle for dominance between hockey cities, sponsors, coaches, and players. Battle with oneself, struggle between personal and professional life, the conflict between an individual and society, and struggle between career and family.

Additionally, this novel teaches readers about bravery, perseverance, and dignity. But there is also the high price that a person unwittingly pays if they exhibit these talents in a culture that places a different value on them.

In addition, Beartown provides responses concerning deliberate hypocrisy that we learn about too late and that always rang out in the pause that followed each question mark.

Unquestionably, Backman constructs a magnificent tapestry in which each character’s backstory is fully defined and significant. You might be astonished to learn that a tale about a tiny hockey town in another country might influence how you view life in general.

I can honestly say that I’ve never read a novel with that many characters. More significantly, I never would have imagined that the tale would be able to incorporate such a large number of voices so quickly. Particularly when we take into account that it didn’t result in the storyline is thin, which is what occurs when there are too many viewpoints and perspectives.

Additionally, Beartown was undoubtedly an emotional experience, and I believe that my objectivity is marred by the nature of the subject. Because our culture does not always treat persons who have experienced rape with kindness or justice, reading about such events can be difficult. There were a lot of different emotions and viewpoints stirred up by this book. I had both sadness and optimism, but I was moved most of the time.

As I’ve already stated, Beartown has a slow, suspenseful pace and a highly evocative tone to the writing. I think that combination was appropriate for the topic and the environment, which was a tiny town with a close-knit population.

Above all, Beartown compels readers to consider their ideals and reflect on themselves. It addresses some challenging material and serves as a warning about the dangers of blind idolatry. A few of the subjects that compel readers to take an honest look at issues that affect all cultures include peer pressure, homophobia, sexual coercion, and moral dignity.

Choose this book if you want to read something that will make you feel a variety of deep emotions, such as wrath and fury. Using depth, candor, and wisdom, Beartown tackles difficult, complicated, and frightening topics. A novel that you really must read, in my opinion.